Gear up for this month’s Las Vegas Market using these helpful online tools from World Market Center (WMC):

WMCommunity: This online tool on the WMC website helps users plan their market experience by viewing an interactive floor plan, as well as creating a profile, event schedule and list of favorite exhibitors. Users can even use this tool to request meetings with exhibitors.

iPhone App: WMC will also release an updated iPhone app this month, which will include a comprehensive exhibitor list and seminar calendar, as well as easy access to the market’s Twitter feed and other important navigational information.

Twitter and Facebook: WMC will step up its social media presence in the weeks leading up to the show. Check out WMC on Twitter and Facebook for helpful information, such as new products and seminars, airfare discounts and other relevant news. And if you’re still new to the world of social media, stop by the Hot Spot, the Market’s social media bar — located on the lighting-focused 10th floor of Building C — for tips on how to create accounts and use them to grow your business.

Consumer Campaign by the Numbers

World Market Center Las Vegas recently celebrated the second annual National Home Furnishings Month by giving one lucky winner a year’s worth of mortgage payments. This was just one part of WMC’s $20 million “Is It Home Yet?” consumer campaign, which kicked off in September 2009 as an effort to raise home furnishings’ profile among consumers. Here’s a quantified look at the success of the industry-wide initiative so far:

9,000 Number of retailers who participated in 2010’s National Home Furnishings Month, up 30 percent from its debut in 2009.